There has to be a lot of anger for Casa Canada to strike the Canadian
Flag. But that is exactly what the investment and real estate group has
done in a dispute with the government of Canada over a visa for a valued
employee.

The firm replaced the Canadian Flag with the flag of the United Nations
over its building on Calle 40 that houses, among others, the Association
of Residents of Costa Rica.

In addition Dan Walker, the head of Casa Canada Group, and his son,
Ryan Piercy, executive director of the association, are quitting their
positions as wardens for the embassy. The volunteer job involves helping
to maintain contact with Canadian citizens in geographic districts, mainly
in case of emergencies. Walker said he would change the name of his firm
if it were not so well known.

The problem stems from an effort by Walker to invite the firm’s general
manager, Monika Trejos, to Canada as a reward for excellent performance.
She filed for the visa with a number of supporting documents, but the Canadian
visa section in Guatemala City, which handles requests from here, rejected
it. Visa Officer Allison Cordett sent a form letter with the box
checked next to "You have not shown that you have a valid reason to visit
Canada."

Walker accompanied an appeal with a list of well-known Canadians who
would vouch for him. Piercy’s wife works at the Canadian Embassy here.
Canada’s Department of Citizenship and Immigration has tightened up visas
for Costa Ricans because a number of Ticos have sought political asylum
there as a ploy to stay in the country.

It is not just Ms. Trejos. Piercy has a short list of Costa Rican business
people and spouses who have been denied visas.

A.M. Costa Rica

Costa Rican and United Nations flags — but not Canadian— fly over Casa
Canada.

Jordanians with false passports caught here

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Two Jordanians on their way to Canada for unspecified purposes were
tripped up at Juan Santamaría Airport Sunday by immigration, police
and security officials.

The pair were accused of traveling on false passports. Marco Badilla,
director general of Migración y Extranjería said the pair
left their home country Sept. 5 and traveled to Spain, Cuba and then to
Guatemala where they purchased the false documents.

Officials said the pair were tripped up because the false documents
were not of the best quality even though they paid $1,000.

Badilla identified the two as Ismail Mohamad A. Nassar and Fawaz Ne
Meh Mousa Laabawi. With

the false passports, the pair were
trying to pass as citizens of France and Belgium, said officials.

Badilla said that the pair were very anxious to travel to Canada and
they tried to bribe police at the airport with a considerable amount of
cash to avoid arrest.

The pair were not charged here. Instead they were sent to el Salvador
where the investigation will be continued.

The pair raised more than normal suspicions because, as Badilla said,
they traveled all over Central America in an effort to go to Canada.

Migración agents and officers of the Policía Aeroportuaria
participated in the detentions. Also involved was the Dirección
de Inteligencia y Seguridad Nacional, the security agency.

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President Abel Pacheco will be speaking at the United Nations Tuesday
as the 59th general assembly gets under way.

The UN General Assembly’s annual general debate is to be attended by
some 100 Heads of State or government, said the United Nations.

Among other speakers will be U.S. President George Bush.

Wednesday Pacheco will be in Washington at the swearing in of former
president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez as secretary general of
the Organization of American States.

Pacheco is being accompanied by his wife, first lady Leila Rodríguez
de Pacheco, and Roberto Tovar Faja, minister of Relaciones Exteriores y
Culto.

Tica bowler againseeking world title

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

SINGAPORE — Marie Ramirez of Costa Rica, third place women’s finisher
last year, will be competing again this year in the 2004 AMF Bowling World
Cup, starting Dec. 5 here.

Ms. Ramírez will join bowlers from 98 countries competing
for titles in men’s and women’s divisions.

Afghanistan will send a bowler for the first time, the tourney announced.
Afghani bowler Atiq Sikander is entered in the men’s
division of this, the 40th annual competition.

Response from a reader

CBS was after presidentdespite the evidence

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Hmmmmm… Let’s see now… What do we have here?

Seems that CBS and their ultra-liberal hit man, Mr. Rather, attacked
President Bush, using forged and faked documents to "prove their point,"
then they denied that the documents were forgeries when the Truth began
to emerge, then they admitted that maybe the documents were forgeries after
all, then finally they showered us with the ultimate insult, an insistence
that the network’s charges were valid even if the documents were blatant
phonies.

Sr. Rather has had it in for the Bushs for years. Remember his
famous on-air skirmish with Papa Bush during the 1992 campaign?

Of course, this is the same Dan Rather who pretended to be a Mooj fighter
crossing the Kyber Pass into Soviet-held Afghanistan over 20 years ago
during his "Gunga Dan" phase…

I don’t know how it was in the States, but down here, the Gringos who
are Democrats were dancing in the streets when the "document story" first
saw the light of day on 60 Minutes II. Some of the die-hards are
still dancing to CBS’s latest tune.

What’s with CBS? Apparently, the truth has taken a backseat in
their intensity to broadcast any dirt on our president that comes their
way. Apparently, the defeat of the president in the upcoming election
through the election of Senator Kerry is much more important to them.
To Hell with reputation! To Hell with the public’s perception of
60 Minutes as a valid source of truthful results obtained through their
investigative reporting.

Mark my words. Before this is over, CBS will admit they made a
mistake. However, don’t bet on Dan making this admission on behalf
of the Network. He’ll be off somewhere in the world, resurrecting
his "Gunga Dan" persona for our entertainment…

For more on this story and a comment on the Kerry people's attack on
the president regarding the expiration of the assault weapons law, see
this
article by Brit Hume.

Jim Edwards Alajuela Province

Professional Directory

A.M. Costa Rica's professional directory is where business
people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite responses.
If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the
editor.

Call us for your real property legal and investment needs at 225-0501
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The full implications of what Harris characterized as his resignation
from Casa Alianza only became known Friday when Covenant House, the parent
organization, said that he was fired for having a sexual encounter with
a 19-year-old man in a Tegucigalpa, Honduras, motel.

Harris, 50, sent out his own e-mail message Thursday saying that he
had resigned because he was tired of working as Latin American director
for the child welfare organization. Attempts to find out the real reason
for the abrupt and surprising announcement were not successful until Friday.
A story here early Friday did not mention the
sex allegations. A later update did.

Harris has exchanged brief e-mails with Spanish-language reporters,
but he has not contacted A.M. Costa Rica, which has disagreed with him
in the past on the extent of sexual tourism in Costa Rica.

Harris always was feisty and a hard-driver when the topic was child
sex abuse. He has appeared on a number of television shows in Europe and
North America stressing that theme. He was an adviser on the topic during
the first months of the Abel Pacheco presidency, although he had not been
seen lately at Casa Presidencial.

Harris supported a computer system
now in place that would keep track of sexual predator tourists who could
then be kept out of Central American nations.

A.M. Costa Rica always
said that far more child sex abuse takes place among Costa Ricans than
is generated by tourists. Casa Alianza seemed to eventually agree.

Last week the organization said that it has filed 252 complaints, including
130 alleging commercial sexual exploitation of children. Some 82 complaints
allege the abandonment of a child, and 29 say that adults were using children
to transport or distribute, drugs. There was no mention of North Americans
as suspects.

To some Costa Ricans in the judicial field, Harris’ predicament might
disrupt efforts to combat paid child sex. He was the most visible individual.
Casa Alianza is expected to continue its efforts to investigate and file
complaints in sex crimes involving children.

A report from Honduras said that the youth with whom Harris is alleged
to have had sex is a former client of Casa Alianza in that country. The
youth lived at shelter run by the charity.

Harris insisted in his e-mail to La Nación that he was unaware
of this connection when he picked the youth up on the street in July. The
youth eventually told all to Casa Alianza officials there.

The case is under investigation by Honduran authorities, although Harris,
again in his e-mail to La Nación, said he did not break any law
by engaging the youth for sex.

In addition to child sexual abuse, Casa Alianza fights homelessness
for children and other forms of exploitation, including child labor. In
Honduras, the organization has complained bitterly about extra-official
killings of street children by individuals presumed to be police.

Reader says that our Friday story was biased in favor
of Harris

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Shouldn't the A.M. Costa Rica staff write with some more objectivity,
especially when reporting about particularly sensitive news?

Your story about "Sir" Bruce Harris, which run on 17 September, shall
remain in my book as a classic of biased journalism. There you admit
that Mr. Harris is quite a controversial person and that opinions about
him greatly vary. Immediately thereafter, however, the A.M. Costa
Rica staff sides with him. Let me quote you: "Others detested him
because they were involved in exploiting minors" - totally unnecessary
phrase. Do you have evidence to back this claim of yours? If so,
why was it not included in the article?

Shouldn't some decent people have the right to disagree with Mr. Harris
and not being pointed fingers at?

Then you go on to beautify the case a "politically connected" [sic]
Guatemalan adoptions attorney filed against Mr. Harris. What if that "politically
connected" attorney is actually right? (By the way,
as you correctly stated, the case is still not over, as

it currently is under appeal, and
Covenant House's considerable PR and cash support to defend Mr. Harris
is highly unlikely in the future to say the least).

To your dismay, and this is the point I wanted to make, the same day
you publish your embellished note Harris accepts that the resignation you
had reported about had nothing to do with his own free will, but was the
result of Covenant House's discovery that he was paying a minor, formerly
under protection from Covenant House in Honduras, to have sex with him.
Had your reporting been more professional and less biased, you would not
be in the uncomfortable position of having run such a positive note on
a confessed minor abuser.

G. RominoSan Jose, Costa Rica

EDITOR’S NOTE: The full paragraph that the reader
objected to read: "Although applauded by many, some expats thought that
Harris overemphasized the role of foreign tourists in child exploitation.
Some thought he was a publicity hound. Others detested him because they
were involved in exploiting minors." Not everyone who disagreed with Harris, including A.M. Costa Rica,
exploits children.

The chip off the old block is a splinter here

De tal palo tal astilla

Like the tree, so is the splinter. This is the Costa Rican equivalent
of the English expression "like father, like son." This brings to mind
another expression of similar meaning: Hijo de tigre sale pintado
meaning the tiger shares his father’s stripes. These expressions provide
a way of explaining a person’s (usually a man’s) characteristics and forms
of behavior by linking them to his father.

I remember when I was a kid that my aunt used those expressions to refer
to one of my friends. Since I didn’t quite get the meaning, I asked my
mother what her sister was getting at. She replied that my aunt was only
trying to draw a comparison between my friend and his father. Then I went
to my friend and asked him who his father was. He told me he did not know.
That put an end to my inquiry. I liked my friend and didn’t want to offend
him.

When you’re 8 years old, you don’t care much about such things, except
when grown-ups start repeating such expressions in front of you and natural
curiosity makes you want to know what’s going on. My assumption at the
time was that my friend’s father was either a traveling salesman or simply
from another planet.

In any case I didn’t care. He was my friend and that was all that mattered.
Then I came home once from school and my aunt was there again. I told my
mother that Pablo was having problems at school because his two girlfriends
where fighting over him. My aunt immediately gave my mom a knowing glance
and said: Tal palo tal astilla. I shrugged, but my Mother saw the
question marks in my eyes.

"What your aunt is trying to say," she explained, "is that Pablo’s father
also had more then one girlfriend, and it has caused him a lot of trouble.
She thinks that your friend Pablo will turn out to be like his father."
"Oh!" I said. "No, not Pablo. He’s a good person." My mother immediately
corrected me, saying that Pablo’s father was also a good person.

The following year my older brother brought my nephew and niece to stay
with us for a while. One day Pablo came over to play with us. He told me
that my nephew and niece were his half brother and half sister. I said
there was no way that could be. They are my brother’s kids.

I won’t go into the rest of this saga here, but to make a long story
short I can only say that if the stripes on the tiger were to represent
each child, then my brother must look more like a black panther. I’m still
counting his children.

The Ministerio Público, the nation’s prosecutorial arm, has filed
four charges, including one of money laundering, against Oswaldo Villalobos.

The money laundering allegation caused concern among Villalobos creditors
because, if proved, the charge could lead to confiscation of funds all
over the world.

Oswaldo and his brother, Luis Enrique, for years ran a high interest
borrowing business that took money from thousands of North Americans.
Oswaldo is jailed, but his brother still is an international fugitive.

A spokesman for the judicial branch gave summaries of the charges Friday.
They include:

* fraud, believed to be sparked by some 600 complaints filed by unhappy
creditors who want their money back;

o illegal financial intermediation, which is believed to be operating
as a lending institution without registration or authority;

o authorizing illegal acts; and

o money laundering, or "legitimación de capitales," as it is
called in Spanish. The charge specifically cites a section of the
anti-drug laws for this charge.

Oswaldo was jailed in November 2002 after his brother vanished. He was
allowed to be detained in house arrest until February when he was again
placed in prison. His preventative detention was due to expire Sept. 27
unless charges were filed or an extension granted.

Oswaldo ran the Ofinter money exchange houses, including one located
in Mall San Pedro. To the rear of that operation, his brother accepted
money and paid interest up to 3 percent a month. The high interest attracted
many North Americans to Costa Rica.

The Judicial Investigating Organization has filed a report that says
both Oswaldo and his brother, as well as others, were directly involved
in the operation of the unregulated borrowing operation.

Although the Villalobos refused to tell creditors what they would do
with the money, subsequent revelations suggest that they were involved
in exchanging Colombian pesos for dollars.

One element that prosecutors will use in an attempt to prove fraud is
that the brothers made a series of purchases of blue-chip securities that
were paying a return well under what creditors were getting.

Two creditor groups are active in trying to recover some of the estimated
$1 billion that vanished when Luis Enrique Villalobos closed his doors
Oct. 14, 2002.

One is the United Concerned Citizens
and Residents of Costa Rica. This group believes that the Villalobos are
being prosecuted unjustly by a vengeful government. This group has urged
that charges be filed so that the Villalobos allegations could be aired
in court. They expect the Villalobos to win in court, return and pay them
the money owed.

This is the group that has hired lawyer José Miguel Villalobos
Umaña to try to hobble the prosecution. Lawyer Villalobos, who has
declared for presidency under the banner of a political party he is forming,
has not posted a report to the group’s Web page since June. The group has
paid him about $129,000 of a $300,000 fee.

A statement on the Web page this weekend basically said that the United
and Concerned Citizens were waiting to see a summary of the allegations
against Oswaldo. The text of the charges runs hundreds of pages.

A second group of creditors have sought the help of a Canadian law firm
with the goal of bringing Costa Rica into international arbitration over
the loss of their investment capital. Their forum would be the International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

A criminal conviction against Oswaldo would be a major plus for Costa
Rica in its efforts to avoid international arbitration. In addition, the
creditors are fighting among themselves, and the law firm has had to send
out a new contract because it appears that only Canadian citizens can spearhead
an arbitration case due to existing treaty intricacies.

Although the money laundering allegation is based in anti-drug law,
the prosecutor does not have to show a connection with drugs. At least
a handful of North Americans placed money gained illegally into the control
of Villalobos. One creditor, for example, was arrested on an unrelated
fraud charge in the United States.

The investigation of the Villalobos had been under way since at least
2000. The Ofinter and lending offices were raided July 4, 2002, after Costa
Rican officials got a request from Canadian authorities.

The Canadians were seeking information on Henri Bertrand St. Onge, who
had brought money here from elsewhere. St. Onge died of natural causes
before the raid, but associates were arrested, including his wife.

Villalobos supporters, including the lawyer Villalobos, have said repeatedly
that the Canadian associates of St. Onge never have been convicted or never
have been convicted of money laundering. That is technically correct. The
Canadians pleaded guilty to more serious charges.

For example, one, Richard Rivers, 41, of Gatineau, Quebec, pleaded guilty
June 17, 2003, to conspiracy to import nearly 600 kilograms of cocaine
in return for a 131/2-year sentence.

Expect more downpours later in the afternoon today

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Pacific coast and the Central Valley will be hit again today by
late afternoon downpours.

Sections of the country reeled under the heavy rain Saturday and some
evacuations were made.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Panamá torrential rains Friday triggered
flooding and mudslides that left at least 10 people dead and a dozen others
missing. Hundreds of homes in Panamá City were reported damaged
by the floods and thousands of capital area residents were left homeless.
Authorities set

up several sites for people to donate
food, clothing and other supplies.

The hardest hit sections of Costa Rica were San Ramón and Palmares
in Alajuela and Paraíso de Cartago. Families were evacuated in each
area.

In San Ramón, the Río Grande overflowed and destroyed
at least one home Saturday. Heavy rains all day Friday soaked the landscape
setting up the areas for damage on Saturday.

Sunday was generally clear with minimal afternoon showers in the Central
Valley

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